MCM Comic Con London May 2016

Comic Con, once more. It seems like I’ve out-grown its craziness, because this year I felt more relaxed as I walked through the halls of the Excel Centre –although I still had a few moments in which I wanted to gruesomely murder some people who pushed me, hit me with their tails or poked me with their horns.

Buuut, I must say this year was quite a big one. Even though I didn’t feel the need to go to as many panels as previous editions, the few ones I attended completely surpassed my expectations. Especially one in particular in which we were treated to a surprise guest. But anyway…

Tom Mison talks Sleepy Hollow

Not much happened on Friday. As I said above, I didn’t care for many panels this year, so I didn’t attend any on the first day, but I started my Saturday revisiting Sleepy Hollow, a show that I quit at the beginning of its second season, when it stopped being the brilliant story that I got addicted to and became too weird and twisted (in a bad way). I know that it has gotten worse in season 3, and yes, I know what happened in the season finale, so I was lucky enough to hear what the star of the show, the always adorable Tom Mison, had to say about it.

Mison, who was joined on stage by fellow Englishman Neil Jackson (Abraham/Headless Horseman), admitted that there was a line from the finale in which Abbie says her sole purpose was to carry Ichabod forward that he disagreed with, and even asked the writers to have it removed –unsuccessfully.

But beyond the obvious feelings towards having the other main star of the show killed off, Mison and Jackson spent the entire time joking around and talking about the importance of the relationship between Ichabod and Abraham –before Abe was killed off, too. They mentioned how much the costume clothing changes the way they perform, and even had time to discuss their favourite dishes and Mison’s hopes that he will one day get to play a zombie in The Walking Dead, since both shows are filmed in Georgia –alas, Mison doesn’t get his hopes up, as there is some sort of “zombie academy” he would be forced to attend, apparently.

Warwick Davis

Also on Saturday I got a short glimpse at Warwick Davis’s panel, but the little I saw conquered my heart. He was chipper and delightful and answered every question with a welcome cheekiness. For instance, when asked about his least favourite Star Wars film, he replied that “the ones I’m not in,” and the same with Harry Potter, for which his favourite one is “the ones I’m in,” although he expressed a particular love for The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 and the famous courtyard scene –also, his favourite SW films are The Empire Strikes Back and The Force Awakens (let’s get him for Episode VIII!!!)

He ended his panel promoting Eugenius, a brand new superhero musical with eighties-inspired music in which he plays the villain.

Preacher

But stop everything! Because then it was time for the screening of the pilot episode of AMC’s Preacher. The show, based on the comics by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon and developed for TV by Evan Goldberg, Seth Rogen and Breaking Bad’s Sam Catlin, has just the right touch of everything, and that’s what I loved about the episode. It was funny, gruesome, heartfelt, violent and it had a bunch of Brits doing Texan accents. I 100% recommend this show.

Nevertheless, what was even better than watching the episode was the surprise Q&A afterwards, because out of the blue… here comes Dominic Cooper! It was certainly a treat for everyone who was there and had just watched that incredible pilot, and Cooper, looking extremely dapper in all-black, answered every question and was thankful for every praise for the show. But most importantly, he said that he would love (as I would) to see Agent Carter continue its story somewhere else, like Amazon or any other streaming site. He feels like he has more to tell about Howard Stark –and so do we, the fans.

Jesse Eisenberg and The Big Bang Theory

Without any doubt, the big thing coming on Sunday was the panel with Oscar-nominated Jesse Eisenberg and Kunal Nayyar and Melissa Rauch from The Big Bang Theory. Eisenberg and Nayyar are in London with the play The Spoils, which they already performed in New York and has just opened at Trafalgar Studios, with Game of Thrones’ Alfie Allen also in the cast.

The banter between the two actors was great from the start, with Nayyar reminding the audience that the play was a comedy despite the dark descriptions Eisenberg was giving, or Nayyar trying to make Eisenberg slow down when he spoke (only to be blatantly ignored).

They stated that they wanted to make the show approachable, because theatre tickets tend to be very expensive, and they want young people to be able to go and see it. Eisenberg also talked about the difference between theatre and films, comparing theatre to being in a life raft, while movies are like being in a yatch docked in Miami.

Of course, Eisenberg was asked plenty of times about Lex Luthor (even though he has made some other films, guys). He said he had wanted to humanise the character, and when asked which DC superhero was his favourite, he reminded the audience that his character is supposed to hate all of them.

And when Nayyar was asked about the success of TBBT and its long run, he said that he will stay on the show for as long as fans want it to go on (I must say Raj is my favourite character, the only one that doesn’t feel forced nor a caricature), and he said that he likes that the characters defend their nerd culture and are not afraid of who they are.

At some point they were joined by Melissa Rauch, and Eisenberg admitted that he would love to be part of TBBT, but with one stipulation: he would have to play Raj’s biological brother, just like that, and no one should question it.

Also regarding the show, Nayyar said he would like Raj to stay single forever and that he would have loved to play Bernadette, while Rauch said she would have liked to play Cinnamon, Raj’s Yorkshire terrier –and Eisenberg confessed he’d love to play sober Raj because it would stop him from talking so much all the time.

And when asked the ludicrous question of the possibility of a TBBT film, Nayyar immediately dismissed it, citing that the show is filmed with a live audience, and the only adaption he’d see would be to have a performance in a theatre.

And speaking of audiences, both men admitted that the British have been more engaged, paying more attention, when going to see The Spoils, which Eisenberg attributed to England’s history with theatre, as he thought British audiences were more culturally in tune.

Finally, Eisenberg ended up mentioning that he had filmed Now You See Me 2 at the Excel, and that his character in those movies is the one he’d love to play all the time because it made him more confident.

So that’s another MCM done! It was an improvement over other editions, I must say, and I have no complaints. Okay, maybe one, because not everything can be perfect: I wish MCM took a page from the Doctor Who manual, and took care of the press like the Doctor Who Festival did, when they gave us journalists our own room on the first floor, with tables to write our articles, food, refreshments, even freebies to promote in our media platforms! Hopefully, we’ll get some of that in October!

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PS. Copyright in most of the photos to my friend Leila. The ones that look like crap, those are the ones I took.

PPS. I took some videos with my phone. Not the best quality in the world, but I hope you’ll enjoy them.